Day 4 on the Vermont Long Trail

Today was packed with fun! We realized we had to hit town a day earlier than anticipated due to the food count. We geared up for a long day. Kids were dreading it because we had to push over 17 miles today in order to make it to town the next day to resupply.

We headed out of our favorite camp site around 6:30. Our first goal was 4.6 miles ahead, which was Story Spring Shelter to fill up on water. Shaggy past us on the trail after a couple miles and Tiny Turtle took off after him once again! Shaggy luckily enjoys Tiny Turtles company. We love having Shaggy around because he such a great motivator for Tiny Turtle. He is young, quick on the trail, full of energy, and has such patience with Tiny Turtle.

We reached Story Spring Shelter quickly. The shelter has a nice setting. A picnic table out front, platform, and a great water source. We had a quick lunch of protein bars and filled up on water. The Luna bars are the best! They have white chocolate and macadamian nuts. Yummy! Tiny Turtle loves the Carmel Apple Crisp meal bars. They are worth trying.

Shaggy headed out before us. We hit the trail after about a 30 minute break. About .5 miles into the trail the strangest thing yet happened. Sissy Bear was leading, followed by Tiny Turtle, myself, and then Bo Bonzi, when I came to a couple in there 40-50’s hiking. The woman was in front with a GoPro attached to her shirt, so I started talking to her because we had the same version. Well I glance at the man and he is NAKED!!! He had a backpack on his back but had NOTHING else on (sorry no pictures on this one). My poor children are looking at me trying to figure out what is going on. We just pushed on past. I don’t think they will forget the day they saw a naked person on the trail.

The trail came to a road crossing where we met up with Smiley! He was taking a small break. He is a very interesting man. He is an engineer and a Boy Scout Leader, so of course Tiny Turtle and Bo Bonzi had lots to talk about it with him.

We then proceeded down the trail. We came to the next road crossing about 2 miles later, which was the Stratton/Arlington Rd. To our surprise was trail magic by the Green Mountain Club! Trail magic generally surrounds food and drinks. They had brought out coolers of pop, Gatorade, juice, beer, fruit, crackers, meat, candy, and snacks! They set up chairs to relax in and talked with us. Lots of hikers pass through and they like to take care of the hikers. It was a delicious and refreshing surprise! The volunteers were very friendly and we’re excited to see a full family actually doing the entire trail! They already had heard about us from other hikers! They took our picture and apologized about the naked hiker they heard we passed.

We then headed onward after a good visit and lunch. Our next big challenge was about to begin. We had to climb 3.4 miles (1710 foot elevation increase) up Stratton Mountain. It was a tough climb especially with backpacks on. We were glad we got refueled but we were drenched in sweat. Once we were on the top they had a fire tower. We climbed up it and the view was spectacular! The climb was completely worth the exhaustion. The area is full of tourist as they do have a gondula to the top and back down. It would have been cheating on the trial if we took it.

After a short stay on the summit, we headed down towards Statton Shelter. It was a steep descent so we ran. It seems to feel better on the legs and knees to move swiftly. Sounds backwards but it worked. We covered the mileage (around 3 miles) quickly. We came to some spots where they had small wooden bridges built on the path where it’s prone to flooding, which was nice. Bo Bonzi was walking behind me and a board was loose. He stepped on the board and it was like a teeter totter effect. I got hit with the board and knocked forward. I didn’t fall but we got a good laugh out of it.

We made it to the Startton Shelter, which is a very nice shelter but had lots of people including 3 dogs already! We decided not to stay and just keep pushing forward. The privy needs a little TLC as it was over flowing (I didn’t go in it but the hikers were reporting it). I’m sure it’s better now!  A short walk from the shelter is Sterling Pond. A very beautiful spot. Tiny Turtle was heading in to take a swim but the poor boy slipped barely walking in the water and fell on his stomach. The poor kid had the wind knocked out of him and wanted nothing else to do with the pond. We were planning to filter some more water from the other side but it just didn’t seem like water we wanted to mess with as far as drinking. It could have been since one hiker yelled to her friends to get in the water it was warm and that she just urinated in the water! Yuck!

It was getting late at this point but we decided to move anyway. We saw the rain clouds rolling in and both the kids were getting tired but still being troopers. We kept looking for good campsites. Tiny Turtle would put his little hands together and pray for a camp spot every time Bo Bonzi would walk off and check for an area. We finally found one a couple miles past the pond. It was a good spot! We worked together to quickly set up tents and make dinner. We ate dinner and then Bo Bonzi tied up the bear bag away from us with the bottle of course! It was bed time after a long 17+ mile day up a strenuous mountai